In recent years, various AV (Audio Visual) devices are proposed in compliance with UPnP (registered trademark) etc. By means of the devices, a user can easily build a home network only by interconnecting the devices physically, without a complicated setup. For example, content, such as a movie reproduced with a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) player which is provided in a certain room, can be viewed and listened to by means of a TV (Television) set in a room away from the DVD player via the home network.
Further, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) No. 2002-540739 discloses a technique in which various types of devices are mutually connected to build a network.
Although such a technique as mentioned above allows building of a home network easily, to thereby view and listen to the content reproduced, for example, with a DVD player in a distant position, there is a problem that the overall operation to reproduce the content is complicated.
For example, in order to view and listen to the content, when one DVD player and a plurality of TV sets are on the home network, the user needs to operate the DVD player etc. and needs to select on which TV set the content reproduced with the DVD player is displayed. Such selection will become especially complicated when the DVD player and the TV set are in different rooms.
Further, since the devices connected to the home network are respectively specified by means of network addresses, such as IP (Internet Protocol) addresses, and device names, the user needs to remember the network address and the device name of each device in order to perform such selection.
In a case where the devices are directly interconnected via analog cables etc., the user can easily specify a reproduction device and a TV set for displaying content reproduced by the device since the reproduction device for reproducing the content is usually provided near the TV set. It is not easy, however, to do so under an environment where various devices are interconnected via a network.
Since it is expected that every device will be connected to a network in the future, such a problem may be serious especially.